Smallsword duellists; France, 18th century

In this moralist 18th-century French copper, Folly — wearing the jester’s suit Abraham a Santa Clara had dressed his Fechtnarr in — intercedes between two squabbling gentlemen.

The young man to the right may still be amused, but his counterpart to the left already has his fist drawn. Handing out matched dueling smallswords is like throwing a Molotov cocktail into a firecracker exhibition.